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Mark Ramprakash has been appointed as England’s new batting coach. He will take up the role immediately, joining England on a one-day tour of Sri Lanka later this month, and will fulfil the role across all formats

David Hopps06-Nov-2014Mark Ramprakash has been appointed as England’s new batting coach. He will take up the role immediately, joining England on a one-day tour of Sri Lanka later this month, and will fulfil the role across all formats.The ECB’s confirmation of Ramprakash’s elevation had been widely predicted from the moment that Graham Thorpe indicated his reluctance to tour for long periods. Thorpe will remain England’s lead batting coach, based at the national performance centre at Loughborough.England slipped Ramprakash into the batting coaching role on a part-time basis with a marked lack of fanfare during series’ against Sri Lanka and India this summer. The hierarchy took a long look at his methodology and finally they have seen enough to award him the role as they concentrate on restoring a strong team culture following the fallout from an Ashes whitewash and the ostracising of Kevin Pietersen.Ramprakash, 45, was always technically absorbed as a player, and his knowledge should hold him in good stead as a batting coach. But his intensity was sometimes to his own detriment and, alongside an innate charm and politeness, when he was frustrated at not achieving his own exacting standards he could cut an intense and aggravated figure.It would have been remiss of England’s senior coaches if they had not considered how this might translate into his approach as a coach, especially considering his lack of experience in such a role at county level. He did act as Middlesex’s batting coach for a relatively short period, although for a time it seemed as if he might move into TV as he made an excellent analyst during ITV4’s coverage of IPL.Paul Downton, the managing director of England cricket, was just one of many players who occasionally had a close-up view of a brooding Ramprakash when they shared a dressing room at Middlesex, but he has clearly concluded that, in common with many as they reach middle age, his approach is now more equable and communal. That he will expect discipline and desire from his charges can be taken for granted.”During his time with both England Lions and the senior teams, Mark has proved a valuable addition to the coaching group,” Downton said. “He has formed excellent relationships with players and a strong partnership with Peter Moores and the management team and I have no doubt he will continue to have a positive impact.”Ramprakash was often presented as the lost batting talent of his generation as his 52 Tests – an average of only 27.32 probably still etched on his soul – and 18 ODIs over an 11-year period never brought total fulfilment. But his desire to score runs never abated and he played 461 first-class and 407 List A games for Middlesex and Surrey, repeatedly proving a masterclass in preparation, technique and concentration, before retiring reluctantly in 2012, 25 years after making his Middlesex debut.Thorpe was the man in possession, having worked as batting coach in one-day cricket alongside Ashley Giles. But he is committed to putting family life above long periods away on tour, although he will also spend a limited period with the performance programme squad in Sri Lanka and with the Lions in South Africa in the new year.The vacancy arose when Moores, with the agreement of his captain Alastair Cook, decided to dispense with Graham Gooch following defeat in Australia and jump to a younger generation. It is now Ramprakash’s task to help England’s batsmen achieve what he never quite managed – the consistent run-scoring under pressure that wins matches. If he does that, it will be an accomplishment he will particularly treasure.

With bigger tests to come, against Middlesex at Lord’s and Durham at Chester-le-Street, as the season gathers momentum, Yorkshire will not want an opportunity such as this to slip through their fingers

Jon Culley at Headingley22-Apr-2014
ScorecardRyan Sidebottom collected one of the breakthroughs that Yorkshire had to work harder for•Getty ImagesWith bigger tests to come, against Middlesex at Lord’s and Durham at Chester-le-Street, as the season gathers momentum, Yorkshire will not want an opportunity such as this to slip through their fingers. Frustration was the theme of the day, though, and it almost came with a nasty sting in the tale.First the frustration, in the shape of bad light, rain and a half-century from James Middlebrook, which combined to take the contest into a fourth day that had seemed highly unlikely when Northants were being blown away for 94 between lunch and tea on day two.Then the sting, which came at a point in the day when, once upon a time, given what had gone before, namely 35 overs bowled in questionable light and interrupted by spells of rain, that the participants would have long since given up the ghost and been swapping stories over a pint or two. Nowadays, no one gets away, quite rightly, without extracting every ball possible from every window of meteorological opportunity.So it was that the players took the field for the final time at six o’clock, with 14 overs ahead of them in watery evening sunshine, and so it was in the first of those overs that Gary Ballance, in pole position to fill a middle-order slot in England’s new era, was able to damage the index finger of his right hand, trying unsuccessfully to scoop up a catch in the slips.He left the field immediately, attempting to stem the dripping blood, accompanied by fears of a third damaged digit to go with those afflicting Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow. Happily, first reports are that the damage is superficial and that he will be back on the field in the morning. Bairstow, incidentally, was due to be scanned today, to assess the healing process in his broken finger.For all that it should not deny Yorkshire a win, it was a much better effort from Northants after Monday’s single-session capitulation. The resolve shown by Leeds-born Middlebrook, against the county he left 13 years ago, deserved the moments of good fortune that came his way. He edged one Ryan Sidebottom delivery between first and second slips when he was on 10, when the poor light at the time was to his advantage, and another from Jack Brooks just short of third slip on 18. And was he who edged Sidebottom again, on 49, to Ballance’s discomfort.He was lucky, too, given the gloom, that he was seeing the ball well enough to duck when Liam Plunkett’s opening delivery came out as a head-high full toss. Indeed, his defensive instincts served him well until a ball from Brooks did just enough, in terms of bounce and movement, to find an edge which Andrew Hodd took behind the stumps. He had batted more than three hours for his 63.His stand of 89 for the second wicket with Kyle Coetzer was arguably the most satisfying passage of the game for Northants, a rare point in which Yorkshire were not in full control. It was such a shame in the end that Coetzer, who had been concentrating every bit as hard as his partner, was tempted to chase a wide ball from Sidebottom and paid the price.Yorkshire bowled appreciably better in the final hour, in which Brooks also dismissed Matthew Spriegel with a full delivery that brought the ninth lbw verdict of the game. There is rain forecast again for the final afternoon, and if Yorkshire are not in the bar by then, raising a celebratory glass, they will not be good company.

Greg Smith successfully re-traced past footsteps as Leicestershire continued to make life difficult for Worcestershire despite Saeed Ajmal’s four wickets for the Division Two leaders at New Road.

Press Association14-Jul-2014
ScorecardDan Redfern made a half-century before Leicestershire’s collapse•Getty ImagesGreg Smith successfully re-traced past footsteps as Leicestershire continued to make life difficult for Worcestershire despite Saeed Ajmal’s four wickets for the Division Two leaders at New Road.Six years after scoring 150 for England against New Zealand in an Under-19 international on this ground, Smith, the 25-year-old opener, continued his recent upturn in form with a fluent 85 which helped his county close in on the home team’s total of 321.But all along there was the spectre of Ajmal. In his last appearance before leaving for Pakistan’s short tour of Sri Lanka, he reached 60 wickets in nine matches as Leicestershire eventually folded for 280 in a mirror image of Worcestershire’s collapse from an opening stand of 163.The visitors looked to be cruising at 194 for 2 but then lost eight wickets for 86 – the last three in 11 balls from Joe Leach – as Worcestershire claimed maximum bowling points for the 23rd match in a row.With the pitch increasingly favouring bowlers, there was still time for another twist late in the day. Nathan Buck fired out Daryl Mitchell and Tom Fell – both century-makers at Grace Road last month – in five balls, leaving the promotion contenders on 48 for 2 at the close, a lead of 89.Earlier Smith’s second half-century in a week – with significant support from Ned Eckersley, 48, and Dan Redfern, with 57 – disturbed Worcestershire’s tried-and-trusted strategy.For much the of the season, the seamers had taken wickets before Ajmal got to work, but this time Jack Shantry’s lbw dismissal of Angus Robson was the solitary success with the new ball.Smith imposed himself with his impressive driving against the quicker bowlers, and with Eckersley carrying on from three centuries in three innings against Worcestershire last year, Leicestershire created a base from which to hold off Ajmal.The second-wicket pair picked off a high proportion of boundaries until the spin master made his breakthrough with a ball that kept horribly low. With Eckersley back rather than forward, he was bowled after a stand of 91.Even then Leicestershire were able to kick on again with a flow of crisply struck strokes from Redfern, but the warning signs were flashing again when Smith, after hitting 13 fours, edged Ajmal low to Tom Kohler-Cadmore at second slip.It was the last 20 minutes before tea that saw Leicestershire truly knocked off course. Having trimmed their deficit to 103, they lost successive wickets to the seamers, crucially when Redfern was lbw to Shantry and perhaps wastefully when Niall O’Brien pulled Charlie Morris for six but flailed at the next ball and found Daryl Mitchell at slip.Ajmal then struck either side of the interval. Rob Taylor was out fifth ball, pushing to Alexei Kervezee at silly point, and Josh Cobb, after playing well for 30, was lbw to one that turned but it was Leach who cleaned up the tail at the cost of one boundary by Buck.”We were in a good position to take a lead,” Ben Smith, Leicestershire’s senior coach, said. “Looking back over the innings, I think the three wickets before tea was the period where it just fell away from us.”Then when you have a world-class performer at one end, building pressure to get bowlers wickets at the other end, it’s very difficult to try and pull away.”I don’t think we’ve given our wickets away. We may have got a little bit lax against the seamers but that’s the pressure he builds.”

Shanan Stewart, who represented New Zealand in four ODIs, has called time on his career in top-flight cricket with the record of making the second-most appearances for Canterbury

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Apr-2014Shanan Stewart, who represented New Zealand in four ODIs in 2010, has called time on his career in top-flight cricket. The 31-year old hard-hitting batsman made his first-class debut in 2001 for Canterbury and had since played 244 matches for the side in all formats, second to former Test cricketer Chris Harris.”It was still a very tough call,” Stewart told . “I’ve made some really good mates in this sport and it was a pretty tough decision to retire. But I’ve got a young family now and other things on my plate and, really, at the end of the day I probably wasn’t having as much success as I wanted.”Stewart made 5693 runs in four-day cricket at 36.72, with seven centuries and 35 fifties. His farewell innings was a blistering and unbeaten 96 off 65 balls to sink Auckland in February. He struck 3521 List A runs including four centuries and 17 fifties and in the shortest format he had 679 runs, with five fifties and a strike rate of 124.35.Peter Fulton, the Canterbury captain, praised Stewart’s method that sustained a domestic career spanning over a decade. “He’s a bit of an old-school cricketer,” Fulton said. “He played the game hard, always gave 100 per cent and he had fun.”Stewart’s greatest highlight remains his 485 runs in seven matches during Canterbury’s successful Plunket Shield campaign in 2010-11, an achievement made all the more significant having come under difficult times.”Winning the four-day championship after the earthquake [2010-11 season] when we were all down and out a bit, that was special,” he said. “The way Fults (Fulton) and Bobby [assistant coach Bob Carter] pulled us through, that was brilliant and winning that title really was the highlight for me. I owe a lot to Bobby, he was the coach who really seemed to get the most out of me.”A first-class highest of 227 proved the stepping stone into the national side but the promotion did not last too long after he could muster only 26 runs in four ODIs in 2010. He had skirted around the edges of a T20I debut having made the 30-man preliminary squad for that year’s World T20, but missed out.”Obviously I would have loved more success with New Zealand but I have no regrets,” he said.

A round-up of the Premier League Tournament matches that ended on February 22, 2014

ESPNcricinfo staff22-Feb-2014 Group B Dilruwan Perera’s 10-wicket match haul set up Colts Cricket Club’s nine-wicket win against Sri Lanka Air Force Sports Club in Katunayake. SLASC, batting first, could only muster 107 as Dilruwan and Sachith Pathirana picked up five wickets apiece to run through the line up in 32.3 overs.Colts then built an 108-run lead, thanks to Shehan Fernando’s 73 at the top which lifted the team to 215. SLASC would’ve hoped to fare better in their second essay, but once again Dilruwan finished with 5 for 34 to dismiss the team for 151, meaning that Colts needed just 44 for victory. Colts needed just 7.1 overs to overhaul that paltry total and in the process, completed their first win of the season.

ESPNcricinfo previews the second Test between New Zealand and West Indies in Wellington

The Preview by Andrew McGlashan in Wellington10-Dec-2013Match FactsDecember 11-15, 2013, Wellington
Start time 10.30am (2130GMT previous day)Kane Williamson will replace Aaron Redmond at No. 3 after recovering from a thumb injury•AFPThe Big PictureDunedin ended as one of those Tests that would take some explaining if one day we find life on another planet: five days of sweat and toil, then it rains and everyone troops off with a draw. Yet it was also a terrific example of what makes Test cricket so brilliant. There were two double centuries, some artful swing bowling, some skillful spin, some terrific catches and some drops, plus just a little bit of controversy.After two-and-a-half days of being comprehensively outplayed there was a fear that, like in India, West Indies would not provide much of an opposition. Now they have shaken off the jetlag, chipped off the rust and – apart from the odd cold – started to get used to New Zealand weather. While New Zealand skulked out of Dunedin frustrated and bemoaning their luck, West Indies had a spring in their step not only because the rain saved them but also because they helped save themselves.Now, though, they need to play as they did for the second half of that Test all over again – and from the start. Consistency is what coach Ottis Gibson and captain Darren Sammy are striving for, to make performances of Darren Bravo’s ilk more the norm than the surprise.They remain second-favourites in this series, largely due to the problems in their pace-bowling attack. The quicks are likely to get a pitch to help them in Wellington, but it remains to be seen whether Tino Best, Shannon Gabriel and maybe Sheldon Cottrell have the patience and skill to exploit them. Sammy, seemingly recovering well from his injury, could be the man best suited.In the corresponding Test against England in March, following another long spell in the field in Dunedin, New Zealand were slow starters (it is the last time England reached 400 in a Test). There may be a little bit of neither the batsmen or the bowlers really wanting first use of the pitch, one lot because it could move all over the place and the second because of their workload. Some spicy pitches, though, are just what Test cricket needs.Form guide
(Most recent first)
New Zealand DDDLL
West Indies DLLWWWatch out forTrent Boult bowled some superbly skillful spells in Dunedin – he also bowled a lot of overs. Both in Dunedin and early in the year Auckland his efforts with the ball have deserved more than a draw. He wants a chance to rekindle the team song. “The boys are always eager to sing that and a handful of guys haven’t actually sung that song yet.” Boult has shown the ability to swing the ball when others struggle; in helpful conditions he could be lethal.Darren Sammy came into the first Test under significant pressure after a poor series in India and he responded impressively with bat and ball. Before his injury he was the most consistent West Indies seamer and his 80 in the second innings was a vital part of saving the Test. On flat pitches he is not a third-seamer in Test cricket, but if the Wellington surface offers some help for those who find a consistent line and length he may just be the man.Team newsKane Williamson scored 140 in a Hawke Cup match over the weekend and came through the bowling and fielding aspects of the outing. He will replace Aaron Redmond at No. 3. Elsewhere it is likely to be as-you-were with Brendon McCullum favouring a balanced attack.New Zealand (probable) 1 Hamish Rutherford, 2 Peter Fulton, 3 Kane Williamson, 4 Ross Taylor, 5 Brendon McCullum (capt), 6 Corey Anderson, 7 BJ Watling (wk), 8 Ish Sodhi, 9 Tim Southee, 10 Neil Wagner, 11 Trent BoultWest Indies’ pace-bowling options are limited. Shannon Gabriel was poor in Dunedin but Sammy suggested that they will show faith in him. Apart from Kieran Powell all the batsmen made at least one contribution in the first Test although Denesh Ramdin needs to produce more at No. 7.West Indies (probable) 1 Kieran Powell, 2 Kirk Edwards, 3 Darren Bravo, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Shivnarine Chanderpaul, 6 Narsingh Deonarine, 7 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Shane Shillingford, 10 Tino Best, 11 Shannon GabrielPitch and conditionsIt’s green. How green it remains on Wednesday morning will be the key factor. Often there is the promise of more than actually eventuates. Either way, the captain winning the toss is almost certain to bowl. The forecast, as often for Wellington, is mixed with the first day set to be perfect but the risk of some rain later in the match. All the more reason for a lively pitch.Stats and trivia Craig McMillan, the former New Zealand batsman, was drafted into the current set-up as a batting coach for the two warm-up days to this Test as Bob Carter was away at a wedding. New Zealand have not won a Test at the Basin Reserve in their last seven attempts since thrashing Bangladesh in 2008. In 2006 they beat West Indies by 10 wickets. New Zealand have two more chances to avoid 2013 being only the third time they have not won a Test in a calendar year having played at least 10 matches.Quotes”We’ve seen some very good spinners come to New Zealand in recent history and it’s not necessarily a place where they really prosper. I wouldn’t be too upset if they played two spinners. I would be very surprised if they did.”
“I think they were playing their best cricket and yet still they didn’t get the victory they deserved. We are keen to put pressure on them.”

Nathan Lyon said emotion fuelled a public singing of the Australia team song barely minutes after the final wicket fell in Sydney

Brydon Coverdale06-Jan-20140:00

‘I knew I’d get my place back’ – Lyon

It was not exactly surprising that Australia hurtled inexorably to a three-day finish in Sydney to complete their Ashes clean sweep, but what was unexpected was the public singing of the team song barely minutes after the final wicket fell. So hurried was the huddle and raucous rendition that Channel Nine didn’t even have time to consider bleeping out the penultimate word.Nathan Lyon might appear the shyest of the eight custodians of the team song, but he is the one who has brought “Underneath the Southern Cross I Stand” to the public. After securing the Ashes in Perth, the squad sang the song on the WACA pitch several hours after the match finished; in Sydney they did it with cameras around them. It wasn’t a PR stunt, but rather a letting out of all the feeling that had built up in this squad over the past ten Ashes Tests.”That was pretty emotional to beat those guys 5-0, it was something we were all pretty proud of,” Lyon said. “I was speaking to Brad Haddin, who I’m pretty close with in the side, and we thought it would be a good idea. It hasn’t been done before. There was a lot of emotion running high and we thought it was a great time. I’ll give you the tip, it wasn’t the only time we sung the song. We got all the coaching staff and all the important people around us to be part of it [later] as well.”Nathan Lyon leads the team and coaching staff in a rendition of “Underneath the Southern Cross I Stand”•Getty ImagesThey sung it more than once; they sung it more than twice. And who could blame them? Lyon took over as leader of the song when Michael Hussey retired in January. It was not until ten Tests later that an opportunity to celebrate arose. A 4-0 defeat in India and a 3-0 loss in England made it all the sweeter when success came at the Gabba.”It was a tough start to 2013,” Lyon said. “Throughout those nine Tests [in India and England] it wasn’t the best thing but we had the feeling that something special was building up and it was great to get the result in the Australian summer. Credit to Darren Lehmann and Michael Clarke, they’ve really brought us close together. It’s like a family out there and it’s an unbelievable team to be a part of.”It’s the best bowling attack that I’ll ever play in. To have the backing of Michael Clarke, the skipper, but then you’ve got Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle and Shane Watson, it’s fantastic. We work well together and we don’t mind who takes the wickets, as long as we’re doing the right things by each other and helping each other out, we’ll keep going well.”The Australia attack took all 100 possible England wickets throughout the five Tests, something Australia have never before achieved in a five-Test Ashes series. Lyon might have been overshadowed by the fast men, Mitchell Johnson in particular, but he certainly played his part in the triumph by claiming 19 wickets at 29.36.”Quicks certainly dominated this series and I was lucky enough to play a little bit of a role in hopefully helping those guys take some wickets as well,” he said. “I was lucky enough to be able to part of a great team and it’s something I’m pretty proud about.”I feel really confident in my own skill set right now. The way they’re coming out you can’t ask for any more. There’s still a lot of work to do and a lot of places I want to go.”South Africa in February-March is one such place. But on Monday, it was the furthest thing from his mind.”Not right now,” he said when asked if he had one eye on the South African series. “I’m trying to recover and keep celebrating for a couple more days.”

Ian Botham and Mahela Jayawardene opened the 2013 Murali Cup in Kilinochchi on Friday, as the five-day tournament began in five venues across Sri Lanka’s northern province

Andrew Fidel Fernando01-Nov-2013Ian Botham and Mahela Jayawardene opened the 2013 Murali Cup in Kilinochchi on Friday, as the five-day tournament began in five venues across Sri Lanka’s northern province. The Murali Cup aims to promote unity and reconciliation as well as the development of cricket, in the post-war regions of the country, by bringing men’s and women’s teams from the south to play sides from the north and east.Jayawardene, who had been one of the first public figures to visit the north after the war ended in 2009, said his belief that cricket could facilitate role in social reconciliation in Sri Lanka had only been heightened by his experience of the inaugural Murali Cup, last year.”It’s all about these kids getting together, and having fun. They have open minds, and you can see the love that the people in the north have for the game, and we should be there to foster that,” Jayawardene said.”Last year, the team from St. Peters stayed with the boys from Kilinochchi, instead of staying in the separate accommodation that they had been assigned. They made friendships and exchanged Facebook and numbers, and when St. Peters got into the final against Jaffna, the boys from Kilinochchi got into a bus and went to watch that game, specially. That’s the kind of thing that needs to happen.”Botham also began his charity walk through Sri Lanka after inaugurating the tournament, the first leg of which finished in Mankulam, 29 kilometres to the south of Kilinochchi. Sourav Ganguly, Steve Waugh and Allan Border are scheduled to join Botham on later legs.”It’s a terrific tournament – one which shows cricket’s capacity to bring people together, and be a common point of interest,” Botham said. “It fits in really well with the idea behind the walk, which is to use sport to improve people’s lives.”


Kumar Sangakkara will visit the tournament venues on Saturday and Sunday, before Muttiah Muralitharan arrives for the finals on Tuesday. Twelve Under-19 teams and eight women’s teams will compete in 34 Twenty20 matches.

Preview of the match between Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi

The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran25-Sep-2013Match facts September 26, 2013
Start time 2000 local (1430 GMT)With heavy dew expected, the batsmen could enjoy the advantage late in the evening•BCCIBig PictureBoth Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad are coming off successful chases in their opening games. Super Kings made a chase of 186 look ridiculously easy in Ranchi, with Titans failing to control a rampaging top order with heavy dew around. The wet ball was a big factor and will continue to be so since the forthcoming game between Super Kings and Sunrisers begins late in the evening. Chasing might not be a bad idea and as allrounder Albie Morkel said on the eve of the game, the toss will be a big factor.Sunrisers’ chase against Trinidad and Tobago wasn’t as clinical, since it went down to the final over. Shikhar Dhawan played only a minor role though it was good from Sunrisers’ perspective that the lower order proved themselves when a challenge presented itself. Thisara Perera’s fearless hitting made the difference and Super Kings would have to strategise how to contain the big hitters like Perera and Darren Sammy. However, Sunrisers weren’t their sharpest in the field on Tuesday and that’s an area they need to improve on.Super Kings will be concerned that their bowlers leaked 185. They have relied on spinners to pull the run-rate back but against Titans, seven overs of spin cost them 85 runs.In the spotlightDwayne Bravo’s cameo 38 off 26 balls helped Super Kings edge closer to victory against Titans and he picked up two wickets as well as Titans looked to accelerate towards the end. However, he has struggled as a death bowler in recent one-dayers for West Indies, something he had admitted needed plenty of improvement. His first two overs against Titans went for 23, but he came back well in his next two, conceding 11 and taking those two wickets. He could use the ongoing T20s to sharpen his death-bowling skills.Sunrisers’ younger Indian batsmen have yet to shine in this tournament, starting from the qualifiers. Biplab Samantray, batting in the top order, was dropped after scores of 0 and 8; Hanuma Vihari made a cautious 18-ball 13 against T&T, and in the same match Ashish Reddy was out for a first-ball duck. Teams that aren’t overdependent on overseas players and bigger names tend to be more successful than others. If the younger players can click, it could help Sunrisers in a big way.Quotes “This is probably the most dew I’ve seen on a cricket field.”

David Warner’s privately convened code of conduct hearing for his recent Twitter indiscretions may be the last of its kind, as Cricket Australia consider adopting a system whereby disciplinary charges against players would be heard in forums open to publi

Daniel Brettig23-May-2013David Warner’s privately convened code of conduct hearing for his recent Twitter indiscretions may be the last of its kind, as Cricket Australia consider adopting a system whereby disciplinary charges against players would be heard in forums open to public scrutiny via the media.Adrian Anderson, the former AFL executive, is due to submit his report into CA’s integrity and disciplinary policy management in June. ESPNcricinfo understands that one of its key recommendations may be to call for the opening of disciplinary hearings to outside observers after the fashion of the AFL tribunal.This means a hearing like Warner’s would be open to media reportage, a significant break from cricket’s traditional policy of keeping board matters, including the disciplining of players, decidedly private, opaque affairs.It would also be a marked departure from the convention followed by most cricket boards and also the ICC, which does not permit public access to code of conduct hearings presided over by match referees, nor the appeal hearings that may subsequently eventuate.Anderson is also expected to recommend that CA’s code of conduct procedures and protocols for hearings be tightened, following a summer in which the consistency and transparency of the current system was called into considerable question by a series of incidents during the BBL in particular.Standards of on-field behaviour during the event were allowed to lapse, culminating in the ugly bust-up between Shane Warne and Marlon Samuels at the MCG. That incident and its handling in a pair of seemingly contradictory and indecipherable code of conduct verdicts did not sit well with a majority of players and others.Anderson is likely to call for a new structure to manage integrity and disciplinary matters, moving the BBL chief and CA head of commercial operations Mike McKenna away from a role that currently has him holding both the commercial and disciplinary keys for CA – an apparent conflict of interest.Despite its novelty in cricket, this would not be the first time CA has toyed with subjecting its disciplinary procedures to public analysis. The CA chief executive James Sutherland has previously stated his preference for public hearings and, as far back as 2002, player contracts included a clause allowing the board to decided whether or not disciplinary hearings would be heard in camera or with the media present.That change had followed Steve Waugh’s complaints that he was not allowed to publicly state his defence to an ICC charge he faced in the 2001 Boxing Day Test against South Africa for questioning Darrell Hair’s decision to give him run out without referring to the third umpire.Nevertheless, the major obstacle to public hearings would appear to be the Australian Cricketers’ Association, whose chief executive Paul Marsh is believed to be skeptical about the necessity of the concept.